Shevchenko hails goal

Andriy Shevchenko hailed the most important goal of his prolific career last night after AC Milan booked a place in the Champions League Final by hanging on for a nailbiting 1-1 draw with city rivals Inter.

Andriy Shevchenko hailed the most important goal of his prolific career last night after AC Milan booked a place in the Champions League Final by hanging on for a nailbiting 1-1 draw with city rivals Inter.

Shevchenko's goal in first-half injury time was levelled by Inter substitute Obafemi Martins with seven minutes remaining but despite a grandstand finish by the Nerazzurri it was AC Milan who progressed on the away goals rule after last week's 0-0 draw in the first leg.

"It is certainly the most important goal of my career," said the Ukrainian. "Now we have good hopes for the final."

Asked whether he would prefer to face Juventus or Real Madrid in the final at Old Trafford on May 28 the player known affectionately in Milan as "Sheva" said: "There is no such thing as a week team in a final.

"It was a battle more than a game - they were great but we were better.

"It was a tough game but within the rules and well controlled by the referee."

Italy's prime minister and AC Milan president Silvio Berlusconi was first to congratulate his players.

Berlusconi, whose money bankrolled Milan's glory days in the late 1980s and early 1990s before he concentrated on his political career, was delighted to be back in the final. "I am breathing fresh air, the air of a final," said Berlusconi whose side in the 1980s and 1990s added three European titles to the two they had won under previous owners in the 1960s.

"What can I say, it was a draw - a good draw. But we know what it is like to be in a final again - we have breathed it five times and now we will breathe it for a sixth."

Milan playmaker Rui Costa was delighted at the draw that saw the Rossoneri go through to the final.

"It's just a fantastic feeling," he told club website www.acmilan.com.

"In the second half we were really suffering but in the first we were better than Inter. The team going to the final is the one that most deserved to."